Started the day with a high quality Assam, a Mangalam FTGFOP1, that for some reason just came out horrible at the office, like every other Assam I've tried to brew there! I don't know if it's the water or the plastic Bodum kettle or my attitude, but it is really hard to get an acceptable result from Assams there. Tomorrow I'm trying a simple but tasty Yunnan black (Hong Cha) from Simao that Scott calls Simao Hong Piao Xiang. Maybe I'll try taking the Brita filter. What irritation! Hope the Assam curse doesn't extend as far as Simao.

Later in the day I shared an inexpensive Chinese green, Gui Ping Xi Shan, from Guangxi Province with a client. That was nice, tasting a bit of raw cashews, grass, with an aftertaste that lingers pleasantly.

Late afternoon and into the early evening it was Firefly (Fuka's favorite tea) a light Margaret's Hope darjeeling black sold by The Simple Leaf. Unfortunately, the tea is over a year old and there was only a little left in the bag and ... well let's just say the luster was gone.

In the words of Kurt Vonnegut (and more recently Chip):

GOOD-BYE BLUE MONDAY!

(Ooo, by way of parenthesis, have discovered a Ceylon that I am absolutely grooving on. It's from the Vithanakande Estate in the Ratnapura region of Ceylon. I never knew Ceylons could be like this, but it is apparently typical of that region. It is as dark in color as an Assam or Chinese black, has a similar big and full taste but with a little dash of citrus and without the smokiness of Chinese blacks or the maltiness of Assams. Well, I'm sorry to say what it's NOT, but I haven't quite yet figured a vocabulary to say what this stuff IS.)

Chiyo Mukashi (Matcha)
Chiyo Mukashi
Golden Yunnan
Chiyo Mukashi
Chiyo Mukashi
Chiyo Mukashi
Rishi's Kuki-matcha. Kind of stale, but warm and green, and most importantly, low in caffiene so I don't over do it and die.